Her ever changing civil status
Filed under Sassy Lawyer • Tagged: 2010 elections, government, law, Loren Legarda, politics
I used to admire Loren Legarda back when she was a young newscaster and TV host. She was refreshing and articulate with a personality that commanded attention. Several years later, she became different. She would newscast in a staccato voice and I couldn’t quite understand if it was the effect of a newfound self-confidence or arrogance. I wondered if it was a “coming out of her shell” process but I didn’t like her so much by then.
When she became a politician, that staccato voice would become her trademark. And, in addition to the peculiar speech pattern, she also acquired a new vocabulary with choice phrases that only trapos use. I disliked her very much by then. She no longer appeared natural and human to me but, rather, a carefully crafted image and product. Cold and calculating. Devious and scheming.
After so many years in the Senate and a failed attempt to capture the Vice Presidency, I cringe at the sight of her on TV. I don’t like what I’ve seen of her, what I’ve heard her say, her demeanor in public and I especially don’t like what I know of her. I read through the bills she has authored and sponsored and, although it is quite possible that their subjects are her genuine advocacies, there is that nagging feeling that they were shrewdly chosen to cater to wide, well-defined and influential ORGANIZED sectors of the electorate. Like women. And Muslims. And environmentalists. And OFWs.
After the announcement that she has accepted to be Villar’s “guest” running mate, I like her even less. After putting her signature on a resolution to ouster Villar from the Senate, she’s now running with him? You don’t sign a resolution to ouster unless you firmly believe that the person sought to be ousted is guilty. How can Loren run alongside someone she believes to be guilty of corruption or, at the very least, abuse of position? The only other way to interpret her signature on the resolution is that she was part of a movement to oust Villar to ruin his chances to become President. Either way, it doesn’t sound good for her.
It is already expected that her signature in the resolution will be central in the criticisms that will be hurled against her once the campaign starts in earnest. I wondered how she will wiggle out of the predicament so I did some background research to find out how she wiggled out of criticisms in previous campaigns. Inevitably, the name of Tony Leviste came up. Some wonder whether her first marriage has been dissolved prior to her marriage to Leviste. Others opine that since Leviste’s first marriage was subsisting at the time he married Loren, whether or not Loren’s first marriage had been dissolved, it would still be bigamy.
I checked Loren’s official website and found her bio which says “Loren is single with two sons.” Single? Here is a woman who publicly said she was married to a man whose first marriage was subsisting at the time he married her. And yet she claimed the marriage was valid by appending his surname to hers. Now, she’s single? Which means what? A belated acknowledgment that her marriage to Leviste was never legal in the first place? Or that it has been annulled? Single as a civil status, after all, is different from “separated.” There are legal implications. And a senator is expected to know that even if she is not a lawyer.
But then again, should it matter whether she’s single or separated or married? Her qualifications to be Vice President are separate and distinct from that issue. Just because a woman has had failed marriages doesn’t necessarily mean she cannot be an effective, and even an outstanding, public servant.
But the sneakiness bothers me. It’s a CHARACTER THING. She was married to him when Leviste was an influential political figure then she’s suddenly single – instead of merely separated – after he has been convicted of homicide? Note the implication. Single means there never was; separated means something was. It’s like erasing him. Her bio is a great play in words – oh, so manipulative — emphasizing what she claims to be her achievements and totally ignoring anything that can detract from the carefully crafted perfect image. The ultimate PR pitch.
And now she’s taking a crack at the Vice Presidency. Again. With a man she once accused of exploiting his political position for personal business gain. Where is the consistency? Where is the sincerity?
And where is the belief in equality before the law? Did she flout the law during the years when she was Loren Legarda Leviste? Is she flouting the law still by now claiming she is single? The Civil Code says “All marriages performed outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were performed, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except bigamous, polygamous, or incestuous marriages as determined by Philippine law.” All these wealthy already married Filipinos who go abroad to get married a second or third or fourth time to escape the stigma of adultery and bigamy are just being hypocrites. They tell us that for them who have money, Philippine marriage laws do not apply.
And Loren is skirting the issue, the very thing that will prove whether or not she is flouting the law, and flaunting her political position, by keeping mum about whether she divorced her first husband, why she claimed to be married to Leviste for years and why she is suddenly single now.
These are things she has to answer because the electorate needs to know if she is among those people who think that money places them above the law that applies to poor sods like us. It’s not about feeding the public’s penchant for gossip about the private lives of politicians which, ironically, Loren is more willing to do. I read a 2007 interview that Joanne Rae M. Ramirez of People Asia Magazine did with her and she talked about her estrangement with Leviste. The tabloids would be interested in stuff like that. But the rest of us want to know her reasons and motivations and justifications for her choice of words in describing her ever changing civil status. Because that will tell us just how much she respects or disrespects the law.
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21 Responses to “Her ever changing civil status”We feast everyday!
i grew up watching loren legarda every night. my night wouldnt be complete if i dont catch the latest inside story. whenever somebody asks me what i want to be when i grow up, i always say i want to be the next loren legarda. now, im completely embarrassed when i look back. i am so disappointed.
Another reason to dislike her: why, everytime there’s a hostage crisis involving the NPA, Muslim extremists, she contrives ways to be on the scene. Aside from the dishonesty about her civil status considering everything she has done to project that public image, there’s something so disconcerting about her.
loren legarda – a politician who would change sides, flip affiliations as often as necessary just to be on top.
maybe she’s doing all this political acrobatics because she never had the push that her fellow abs-cbn news-anchors-turned-politicians got from them.
i also used to respect her as a newscaster.
Used to like her too but not anymore. She keeps changing sides and behaves as if she’s holier than everyone.
Was a Loren admirer during her PEP days, even up to her Senate days, until she agreed to run w/the late FPJ … after that it was a downhill ride … whatever else came after weren’t surprising anymore …
Sass,
Mukhang galit na galit ka. Mas masaya rin kung si Escudero ang subject. Paborito ng elementary students dahil kapag nagsasalita yung tao, parang si Balagtas (daw).
The way I see it there is no way for Loren to win. She would be on the third or fourth at the most.
The hall of politics is infectious, she became a true politician that can discard anything against her as merely inconveniences. There is pervasive attitude among seasoned politicians that the law is for the general public. After all, they created the law.
Winning is a bonus in politics. It is not about losing which is feared in politics but running out of circulation. Certainly, Loren knew her way in politics, skillful in the art of compromises.
“After the announcement that she has accepted to be Villar’s “guest” running mate, I like her even less. After putting her signature on a resolution to ouster Villar from the Senate, she’s now running with him? You don’t sign a resolution to ouster unless you firmly believe that the person sought to be ousted is guilty. How can Loren run alongside someone she believes to be guilty of corruption or, at the very least, abuse of position?” — Ms. Connie
Funny, but I feel the same way you do about her. There’s something about Loren I find repulsive.
By the way, when Loren’s name comes up in the news nowadays, I can’t help but associate her name with the word “political prostitute.”
Pasensya na, there must be something wrong with my perception.
I used to like her too. But her joining Villar is the last straw for me. She will never get my vote in any office she will ran after she loses in this election.
feel exactly the same way.
and the moment i heard about the tandem with Villar, the first term that entered my mind was ‘political whore’.
Well done ma’am for your article on Senator Legarda. I didn’t know her much until I read your well researched article about her. “Truth is mighty” and the people will be more enlightened on whom to vote come election day!
Ms. Connie, almost all friends I know feel the same way. And John Galt, you quite accurately described her as a ‘political prostitute’ who, for me, rivals Brenda (you know that ‘feisty’ nuisance in the senate whose frothing mouth they love to focus on TV cameras)
. I remember watching a TV program more than a year ago that featured Loren and her ‘outstanding’ qualities and accomplishments. There was one part where a beaming Loren, completely made-up and with obviously prepared script, showed the host the many medals awarded to her during her elementary and high school years, and unabashedly trumpeting her accomplishment for each medal. Whether those medals are genuine or fake, I don’t now. But the apparent lack of modesty, bordering on arrogance, put me off.
Unfortunately our political system and the electorate’s level of education are such that characters like her flourish and abound. And what about her running mate, Villar? Would the guy spend more than P1 billion just because he genuinely want to ’serve’ the Filipino people as their president? Even the current Malacanang occupants acknowledged that their main criteria in choosing Edu Manzano as their VP candidate was his supposed-to-be vote-pulling power, not his qualifications. As for their presidential candidate Teodoro, I’m sure Malacanang has already mobilized the services of Garci’s gang to make him win. Unless the ‘evil bitch’ has other oplans in her mind to stay in power – which we can never discount.
Oftentimes I can’t help but feel helpless and think here I am again, reduced to being a mere spectator in the corrupt, dirty, bloody spectacle of Philippine politics. And while vested interests position themselves in another round of power/wealth play, the only loser will again be the Filipino people.
what more can i say?… basta ang mga kandidatong magaling lang sa PUROPAGANDA este propaganda, tv commercials, billboards, atbp. hndi ko iboboto. I was also disappointed with Escudero when saw his campaign ads. Haaaay.. kala ko isa sya sa iilan na lang na natitirang matinong pulitiko sa bansa, hndi din pala. Teka… may matino pa ba?
oh and by the way re staccato voice–Lately, everytime I hear Chiz Escudero, I also get turned off. He needs a speech coach. Seriously.
Like what I’ve said before, the moniker is a perfect fit, “political prostitute.”
Such a shame really.
Bakasyon grande ka talaga. Na miss ka na namin sa facebook!
Loren Haggarda ang drama ko ngayon sa office. Deadlines are stressful.
Like you, I used to like her as well when she was still a young newscaster. But this changed when she began to show her true colors. I would not vote for her even if she paid me.
oh well, ang masasabi ko lang sa kanya is that she’s the prettiest and most well-dressed senator. yon lang, wala na.
years, years ago, i remember her ending her newscating spiels by signing off as loren legarda-aranda, and then naging loren legarda-leviste. the girl sure has a penchant for changing last names and political affiliations and civil status